Homemade Pizza - First Time Ever

I am super excited with the fact that I am actually having a blog post for home made pizza. We as a family love pizzas (okay, who does not, right?) We order pizzas almost every fortnight, but was gradually getting bored to the taste and also the limitation of the toppings to our taste. The closest homemade pizzas we had before was buying the pre-made bases from the local bakery and arranged the toppings. But, this pizza is done from scratch, yes, you heard it right, and let me tell you its not that bade. It was quite easy to arrange and was so good to eat. After having this pizza I realized how heavily the store bought pizzas are packet with not so good for your waistline ingredients. 

So, pizza for me please, anytime!

Ingredients

All purpose flour - 2 and 1/2 cup ( I used 2 cup apf and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour)

Active dry yeast - 1/4 teaspoon

Sea salt - 1 teaspoon ( Table salt is fine too)

Water - 1 cup

For the dough, I adapted this super easy recipe. 

For toppings

Green Pepper - 1 medium, chopped

Red Onion - 1 medium, chopped

Chicken Breast - 200 gm, cut in bite size pieces

Ginger paste - 1 teaspoon

Garlic paste - 1 teaspoon

Yogurt - 1 tablespoon

Cumin powder - 1 teaspoon

Coriander powder - 1 teaspoon

Salt to taste

Mix all the dry stuffs for the dough and slowly add water to it. Mix it with spatula till it incorporates all the water and shape it up in a ball. It will be real soft to touch.

Cover it with cling wrap and leave it for 6-8 hours. (I did not wait till 18 h as mentioned in the recipe. I live in a place where the current temperature is 42C, so did not think wise to leave it that long. Anyway, it worked fine).

Take out the dough on a well floured area, punch it once and spread it to roughly make a rectangle. Fold the four corners in the middle, turn the dough so that the folded side faces down, and gently form a ball with it. Cover it with cling wrap and leave for another 30 minutes to 1 hour.

While the dough was rising, marinate the chicken with yogurt, cumin powder, coriander powder, ginger paste, garlic paste, garam masala powder and salt. Leave it for an hour or two. Place the marinated pieces on aluminium foil and grill it for 45 minutes at 220 C.

In the meantime, cut your veggies (whatever you like).

After the dough has sat for an hour, gently spread it out on the baking tray. You can use pizza stone but I do not have one. You can make it rectangle or round depending on your baking tray.

Add the marinara sauce on it ( you can also use the regular tomato sauce from your pantry).

Arrange the chicken pieces and veggies on the base.

Cover it up with generous amount of grated cheese of your choice.

Preheat oven at 270 C and bake for 10 to 15 minutes or till the crust starts to turn golden.

As soon aas it came out of the oven we were busy eating it and forgot to take a decent picture.

But, seriously, it was so comforting and good to eat. The husband who loves the store bought pizzas even said that lets have this every time we crave pizza now.

Enjoy!

Black and White Wednesday # 125 Gallery

Once again, I am extremely happy and honored to host the rich and wonderful gallery of Black and White Wednesday. I was in awe every time I was downloading the images from my inbox.Truly, each and every picture is so unique and beautiful! I thank Susan and Cinzia for initiating and organizing this wonderful event. Also, a big thank you to all who participated for your time and effort.

                                                     

So here for you all, the wonderful images I was talking about. The images are in the order I received.

Ivy Gourd from Aparna of "The Stories form the Mahe Coast"

Snail strolling on parsley from Simona of  "Briciole"

Cantaloupe from Priya of "The Humpty Dumpty Kitchen"

Garden Onion-A Gift From a Neighbor Gardener

Silhouette Amongst the Clover and Dollarweed

Both from Lynne of "Cafe Lynnylu"

Green Asparagus Bouquet from Cinzia of "Cindystar Blog"

Cucumis sativus from Shri of  "Tiffin Carrier Anticque's"

Indulgence from Rosa of "Rosa's Yummy Yums"

Lunch Delight from yours' truly of "Pocketfull Of Spices"

Enjoy the gallery, friends. Next week see you all at Lynne's Cafe Lynnylu.

Happy Wednesday!

Bulgur Wheat Pilaf/Pulao

This bulgur wheat pulao has been inspired by this recipe. Bulgur wheat is a nutty tasting grain made from whole wheat kernels and is widely popular in Middle east and Indian cuisine. A quick search will tell you that it is high in fiber and protein and low in fat and calories. It is also rich in minerals and vitamins. And this salad is very delicious and perfect for a light yet comforting lunch.

Ingredients

Bulgur wheat - 1 cup

Onions - 2 medium, chopped

Tomatoes - 1 medium, chopped

Cumin powder - 1 teaspoon

Coriander powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Garam masala powder - 1/2 teaspoon

Water - 1 1/2 cup

Yogurt - 1/2 cup

Ginger - 1/2 inch piece, grated

Lemon/lime - 1

Cilantro leaves - 1/4 cup, chopped fine

Parsley leaves - 1/4 cup, chopped fine

Peanuts - 1/2 cup, roasted

Salt - to taste

Pepper - to taste

Oil- 2 tablespoon

Soak the bulgur wheat in water for 10 minutes.

Heat oil in a pot, add the onions, saute them well till they are light brown, 8-10 minutes. Add the tomatoes to it and saute for another few minutes.

Add the bulgur wheat, add the spices, salt and pepper and give it a mix. Add water to it, enough to cover the entire wheat.

Bring it to boil, and then let it simmer for ten minutes.  Turn off the heat and let it cool down.

Add the chopped cilantro and parsley leaves and mix it well with the pilaf.

In the meantime, mix yogurt with pinch of salt, and grated ginger, add a squeeze of lime juice to it.

Add dollops of yogurt on top of the pilaf and sprinkle the roasted peanuts on it. Serve it cold or at room temperature.

Delve in and enjoy! It is such a delight.

I converted this image to sepia and this is my contribution for this week's Black and White Wednesday, a culinary event started by Susan and now organized by Cinzia. This week it is hosted by yours' truly. For participation details, click here

Black and White Wednesday # 125

This week I am your host for Black and White Wednesday-A Culinary Photography Event. This is one of the event I really like and try to participate as much possible. Every week, very talented chefs contribute to set up the beautiful gallery of black and white photos. This wonderful event was started by Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook, and now organized by Cinzia of Cindystar.

For the newbies, here are the rules:

• Your clicks have to be  anything of a culinary nature or show anything related to food

• You can shoot either in b/w mode or in color, then process in b/w. You can use any effect you like but keeping the image in a monochrome/grayscale, with Sepia and Cyanotype tones allowed. No color details allowed.

• Approximate sizes of your pictures should be portrait/500 wide & 700 long - landscape/700 wide & 500 long - or 600 square.

• No need of a recipe, nor a story nor a location (but they are welcome if you like), simply a title for the picture is required.

• You have to mention Black and White Wednesday in your post and link to this announcement and my blog  Pocketfull Of Spices. Use of the logo is optional.

Please send me your photographs at pocketfullofspices AT gmail DOT com with following details: 

• Subject: BWW #125
• Your Name that you want to be published in round up
• Your Blog's Name
• Title of Your Pic
• URL of your post
• The image(s), max 500 px wide

You have until Tuesday, JApril 15, to send me your images. Even if you do not have any blog, you can send me your photos for the roundup.

So, take out your cameras and happy clicking my friends!